The art of sand

Chapter9

Sai motioned for the boys to stay quiet as they crashed through the house. Shikamaru socked Naruto in the arm to stop his giggling. Sai’s room was upstairs. Stairs should be fun. Sai went off to check his father’s room before attempting the stairs. He found the door firmly shut, and heard the loud snoring. Sai stifled a giggle of his own, and stumbled back to the stairs. He found that the boys had made no progress. Sasuke and Gaara had been smart enough to hang back and watch. A tangled mess was all that was to be seen of the other four. Sai’s chuckle broke free at the sight. He tripped on nothing and fell onto the bottom step. He helped navigate the boys away from each other. Once they were trying the stairs again, Sasuke and Gaara felt compelled to follow. Halfway up, Naruto fell back into Sai, who in turn fell into Gaara. The red-head managed to stay standing, thanks to the hand rail he had been holding. Naruto was punched again when he laughed too loudly. Gaara shoved the boys on him up the last steps. Sai could not stop the frown. He directed the boys to a guest room, offering half the boys to stay there, and the others to follow him to his room. Sai would not be able to tell you who went where. Nor could he tell you how they all ended up sleeping. He can, however, tell you that when his alarm woke him the next morning, he could have died a happy man.

Gaara lay beside him on his bed. The red-head frowned as he woke up. His head was throbbing. He realized there was someone next to him, but did not catch who it was as he ran them over in an attempt for the bathroom. He guessed right and proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Every noise that entered his ears felt like it was trying to explode his brain. He threw up again before trying to stand and wash himself up. Only then did he realize he had never seen that bathroom before. He marveled at the clean marble and tiles. He appreciated the green color scheme about as much as someone with their first hangover could. He exited the bathroom still very confused. He saw Naruto fall out of a door nearby. The blonde nodded to Gaara, before pushing his way into the now vacant bathroom. Gaara walked slowly back to the room he had rushed out of. He saw Kiba snoring on the ground and a half-naked Sai climbing out of a bed. Gaara blushed at the sight and made to look away. And it was then he became aware of his own state of clothing. Well, lack thereof. His black boxers did nothing to hide his pale skin. He was not sure if he should ask questions or just get mad. He looked back to Sai while he thought and met a bright smile.

"You are very warm, Gaara," Sai stated smoothly.

Gaara pulled back his fist and lunged at the boy. Sai managed to bring his hands up to protect his face. The force of Gaara’s movements pushed him onto the smaller man, who was now beneath him. Gaara’s arm wrapped around Sai franticly. He knew falling would be bad. Sai wrapped his own arms around the man, and steadied him. The movements took all of a minute. They were left holding onto each other, barely clothed, both turning red. Sai had precious moments to marvel at the feel of Gaara’s skin. Gaara pulled away as fast as he could. He tried standing and found his head spinning unpleasantly. He settled for sitting on an edge of the bed.

"You are very bad at that," he muttered.

"Don’t people want to hear the truth?" Sai questioned.

"Well, I suppose. But there is a time and place for certain phrases."

"Like me saying you are warm?"

Gaara’s fists tightened again. He gave up and sighed,

"Can you make my head stop hurting?" Gaara asked weakly.

"Yes. Wait here and I’ll get you aspirin first," with those words Sai was walking across his room.

He nudged Kiba on the way, earning only a grunt and mumbled words, before the boy turned over in his sleep. Naruto was sitting against the bathroom wall, and holding Neji’s hair aside while the Hyuuga hugged the toilet. Sai reached over them for aspirin. He passed a few down to his friend before leaving. He vaguely heard something about a porcelain god and a savior, but did not turn back to investigate. He tossed some of the white pills into the spare bedroom for Shikamaru and Sasuke before dropping the bottle off with Gaara. He announced coffee would be downstairs. All partakers must before dressed before…. Well, partaking.

"Good morning, Father," Sai greeted his father with a smile.

"Shouldn’t you be going to class?"

"I stopped by the Uchihas’ last night. They may have another client. So I’m seeing my friends off soon and starting on the work. I’ll call ahead," his response was emotionless.

He started on the coffee. His father patted his shoulder briefly, before leaving the house. Coffee was barely finished when the hung-over boys found the kitchen. Sai passed out mugs and sat out sugar and cream for those who preferred their coffee flavored. Sai sat on the counter with his own coffee, watching the boys. Gaara choked on the coffee. He had been a little too quick to drink the burning liquid. Kiba was making fun of him. Naruto and Sasuke wasted no time in fighting over pretty much nothing. Neji took his chance to stand next to Sai. He was a friend by association, but the two had never really stopped to talk.

"You must be very happy, Neji," Sai pointed out.

"Naruto is good for me," a simple reply, but nonetheless fully understood.

"Neji, I can tell you don’t interact with people much. Yet, you have so many people who call you a friend," Sai observed.

"Honestly, Sai, you have to be very careful with people. Most people will claim friendship to get something from you. You made a good start with Naruto."

Sai smiled brightly at the older man. He was rather enjoying the increasing amount of people around him. There were a few too many rules for his taste, but he felt like he was on the verge of understanding something great.

"Gaara, do you by chance have to work today?" Shikamaru asked.

"No."

"Why don’t we all do something today, too, then!" Naruto picked up on the train of thought.

"My father will be gone all day. If you all wanted to stick around for awhile, no one is going to bother us," Sai offered.

He was jumping for joy internally when they all agreed. Neji blushed and looked away from everyone.

"Sai-kun, do you happen to have any clothes I borrow?" his voice cracked slightly.

"Why Neji?"

"Naruto ripped all mine in half."